


Crazy Is As Crazy Does

by PatL



Category: Starsky and Hutch - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Inspired by the events in Targets Without A Badge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-09-12
Updated: 2003-09-12
Packaged: 2017-10-08 13:29:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/76129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatL/pseuds/PatL
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How a childhood memory saved three lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crazy Is As Crazy Does

Crazy Is As Crazy Does  
(From TWAB- Starsky's POV)

All things considered, I had a pretty good childhood. I know that sounds kinda strange coming from someone that lost his Pop when he was a kid, but it's true. Before Pop died, and even after he left Ma to raise me and Nicky alone, I had more than a lot of kids had back then. We had warm food in our bellies, a roof over our heads, and all the love that existed in Ma's big heart. Sure, our jeans weren't the hottest brands on the market, and maybe our sneakers went a little bit farther than they should have, but Ma always liked to say that we were rich in the ways that counted.   
When Ma sent me to live in California, she did it out of love, not out of spite. I brought it on myself, because I forgot the things that were important. I couldn't handle living without my dad, and I blamed the whole world for taking him away from me. I turned into a real wise guy, and if I had stayed, there's no telling where I would have ended up. I probably would have spent most of my life behind bars, if I even made it past my eighteenth birthday. But that's neither here nor there, so we'll save that story for another day. So, where was I?   
Oh, yeah, I was going to tell you about Sammy Pearl. I don't know what made me think of him that day. Maybe it was all those abandoned buildings with their big, plate glass windows. When I was growing up, it wasn't unusual to see vacant buildings like that. Stores came and went in my neighborhood. If you barely had enough money to pay the rent and buy food, there wasn't much left over for extras. The furniture in our apartment came from second-hand stores and the Salvation Army, not McBride Interiors.   
Anyway, when me and Hutch faced Soldier and Allison at the end of that deserted street, I was wracking my brain for a way to get us all out of that mess. Soldier had three of his meanest thugs with him, and they were armed to the teeth, but that isn't what I was worried about. We've faced worse odds than that in the past. But Allison was standing right in the middle of Soldier and his goons, and I didn't want her to get caught in the crossfire of a shooting match. That's when I thought of Sammy.  
I know that seems like a weird time to have childhood memories come crashing back, but you gotta understand something. Allison and I knew each other when we were kids. Her name was Laura Anderson back then, but I thought she was a pretty neat kid, even if she was a girl. She was the prettiest girl in class, and could run as fast as any boy. She wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, like a lot of girls did that age. When she was with us, she wasn't a girl any more; she was one of the guys.   
I guess you're starting to wonder what Sammy had to do with what was going on in that deserted street. Well, let me set it up for you. Soldier was using Allison as a way to get to me and Hutch. We'd stepped on the toes of his boss a few too many times and Soldier's orders were to take us out. He killed Allison's dad and yanked her right out of Hutch's apartment, to use as bait. His deal was to exchange Allison for one of us. Now, I'm not stupid. I knew that it didn't matter which one of us went. As soon as the exchange was made, we'd all be lyin' in the street with our toes sticking up in the air. That's when I remembered the crazy stunt Sammy had pulled down on 48th street that day. If I could just get Allison to remember, we might have a chance of getting out alive.  
They didn't call Sammy crazy for nothing. He was always trying stunts that could put him six feet under. You see, Sammy didn't have a mother. She died of pneumonia when he was just a little kid. So, it was just him and his dad. I guess it made him feel a little left out on parent's night at school, just like I did whenever there was a father and son picnic. You could say that we were both outcasts in a way. And when you don't think you fit in, there's no telling what you'll do to be one of the guys.   
When Sammy took a header through the window that day, I figured he was done for. I mean, the kid didn't weigh eighty pounds soaking wet. How could he make it through all that glass without being cut to ribbons? Was he worried about it? Did he stop to think that day that he might be going to meet his maker? Or, did he know somehow that if he went through the glass fast enough, he wouldn't get a single scratch? I don't know. Did we try to talk him out of it? Of course we did, but if you want the truth, we didn't try too hard. I never thought the nut would try it, honestly. But when he went flying through that glass and came up on the other side grinning like a fool, you could have knocked me over with a feather. After that, we still called him Crazy Sammy Pearl, but it was more like a tribute than a put down. Any kid with that kind of balls could have all the friends he wanted.  
Anyway, after arguing with Hutch about who was going, I convinced him to let me try my plan. If he'd known what I was going to do, he would have snatched me up and ran behind the nearest building. Instead, he just threw our guns on the ground like Soldier ordered and let me go. As soon as I got close enough to Allison, I started talking. I knew if I could just get her to remember what Sammy did, she'd see it was the only chance we had. She took some convincing, you can bet on that. But I finally got her to go along with me. I think she knew what the alternative would be. What were a few scratches compared to a bullet in the head? So we both took a deep breath then I grabbed her around her waist and went flying through that window. Before you could say Crazy Sammy Pearl, Allison was out of harm's way, and we were taking out Soldier and his band of thugs.   
I didn't have a lot of time right then for gratitude, but you can bet I thanked Sammy plenty later on. It's funny how memories like that can follow us all through our lives. Sammy couldn't have known right then that he would save three lives when he crashed through the window on 48th street all those years ago, but he's the reason I'm sitting here today. Maybe he wasn't as crazy as we all thought. When I think of all the chances Hutch and I have taken in our careers, I realize that I'm not so different from Sammy. We all do what we have to in this crazy ride called life. Like Hutch said after I told him the story, crazy is as crazy does. OK, so that's not really the way the saying goes, but you get the picture, don't you?


End file.
